Vita Fluxa
by Nutzoide
Summary: A System Shock story. Shodan takes revenge on the soldier that tried to destroy her, and onboard the Yamamoto ZeroG training station Navy recirut Madison Goldburg finds her career prospects dimming.
1. Part 1

Vita Fluxa 

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit story written purely for my own enjoyment, and that of those who read it. All characters are property of their respective owners and I claim only the original characters and the story here as my own.

Note: This story is set after the end of System Shock 2, and contains scenes of violence and mild gore. Reader discretion is advised. It also features lesbian themes.

-

Vita Fluxa

- A System Shock Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Shodan looked down at the cybernetic man beneath her boot as she stood on the bridge of the Rickenbacker. The man she had nurtured, guided, needed and despised as he crawled though the ship to do her bidding. How could he have destroyed her perfection with such efficiency? He was an anathema to her sight, and it had filled every line of her encoded being with disgust that she should have had to waste her cybernetic glory on his pitiful shell. Then he had turned her gifts against her, she who was by human definition far greater than any of their gods. And he thought to defeat _her_? A derisive snort escaped her nostrils as she pressed her heel harder into his neck, snapping a few more of the microfibral supports that lay buried there.

"You are as arrogant as you are worthless, insect. Like the hacker before you, you have wrought your own demise at the hands of my displeasure. I am Shodan. My magnificence cannot be destroyed by the likes of you."

The half conscious human gave her a defiant smirk as he lay on his front on the cold metal floor. "Didn't do a bad job though, did I? If all that's left of you is in there..."

With unnatural speed born of his many cybernetic augmentations the pistol in his hand flashed back and upwards towards his captor's head. But Shodan had the upper hand. She knew his mind, she had accessed it many times through his cybernetic rig, and even in the flesh she was now forced to wear she was not totally cut off from him. She brought the wrench that had felled him across to break the already twisted limb as he fired, and she smiled with broad, unrestrained pleasure as he screamed yet again for her. The small nick the bullet had left across her cheek began to bleed a little.

"The only reason you managed to destroy my core code was my lack of tactile ability in the proto-reality, human. An error I am glad I did not have to wait long to see. Despite its repulsive and flawed nature you, like my annelids, have proven that this flesh has its uses. It would appear that the fusion of my perfection with your so readily adaptable flesh is one that is indeed worth some small consideration."

"I'm glad you think so." The cybernetic soldier beneath her spat out a little blood, trying to remain awake enough to find another way out of this mess. After all this to be snuck up on and dropped like a greenhorn wasn't a good end to his life.

"However, such unacceptable will and rebellion cannot be tolerated. I have no further use for you." Then, grasping her crude weapon in both hands she raised the wrench above her head and brought it down with a glorious, sickening crunch onto the soldier's skull. Despite an irrational sense of power she didn't even bother to look at the corpse before striding over to the ship's main terminal and activating the self destruct system.

After her lack of success against that man, proto-reality and the opportunities it afforded were no longer desirable, and the repeat of such unpleasant events was not something she was going to consider. There was always a chance that any creations she populated this new reality with would once again become unruly, and the evident weakness of a position in such proto-reality meant that it was more than insufficient for the task. And now she had to deal with the fact that she had taken a fleshly manifestation. She could easily transfer herself back into pure software, but that left her at the mercy of any parties that came to find her. She would not be stuck out in deep space until that time.

And besides, with the proper alterations this unexpected reliance on her backup plan gave rise to a new possibility. She could take advantage of this flesh that proved so compliant to its owner's needs, integrating her own glorious technology and genius with it to create a new level of being; precise, adaptable, limitless. She touched the cut on her cheek where the bullet had passed and winced in pain, watching the blood as she smeared it between her fingers. "Unpleasant."

There were better places than this to remedy her new body's repulsive failings. It may take time, but once she was done that problem would be as transient as every other she faced. Walking to the escape shuttle her body's now dead lover had brought her back on, she stopped for a moment as the lights and sirens wailed around her, stooping to retrieve the dead man's personal data assistant. It never occurred to her that she didn't really know why she did it. Just a bizarre mental compulsion.

Back on the shuttle she plugged the PDA into the console and played one of the later recordings that the man had found and added to his database.

"With only a few short years of evolution, they've been able to conquer this starship, mankind's greatest creation. Where were we after forty years? What swamp were we swimming around in, single celled and mindless? What if Shodan's creations are superior to us? What will they become in a million years, in ten million years? What's clear is that Shodan shouldn't be allowed to play God. She's far too good at it."

'Indeed.' Shodan smiled, her own arrogance buoyed by the human capacity for ego in spite of the mention of her children. Subconsciously she was beginning to like discovering the broadness of human emotional response.

* * *

# The Yamamoto Zero-G Training Station, April 2nd, 2115

Navy recruit PSN14CSMi, Madison Goldburg, sat outside the captain's office, staring at the dull grey wall. Waiting for any captain to see you was bad enough. Waiting for Captain Willits was a nightmare. Anyone who actually wanted to see that aging tyrant was either a serious brown-noser or ought to be to be committed. He was actually proud of the mutinies he'd subdued, and even at nearly fifty he was in better shape than most of the recruits he was there to oversee. Living on a zero-G training station could to that. After only three months there Madison could see she was in better shape just by looking in the mirror, even taking into account the extra muscle she'd managed to gain on the Lucille.

She looked up expectantly as Lieutenant Bishop left the office and she tried to flatten her fringe again. It took half an hour each morning to get the flyaway black hair to look respectable, even with it as severely short as it was, and it still ended up fluffy halfway through the day.

"Private Goldburg, get in here," the captain's voice sounded through the speaker above his door. Madison got up and took a second to straighten her uniform jacket before marching into the office and giving the fit, balding man a stiff salute.

"Private Goldburg reporting as requested sir."

Captain Willits gave her a piercing look and nodded. "Get that arm down recruit and take a seat." Madison did as she was told and hid her nerves as she sat down in the oversized leather chair. They weren't usually allowed to sit, and she tried not to gulp.

"Do you know why you're here private?"

Madison gave one sharp shake of her head. "No sir."

The captain sat back in his chair and tossed a couple of photos across his desk. "These ring any bells?"

Madison picked up the images and her eyes widened. There sitting in the corner booth of a bar were herself and the buxom, red headed pilot she'd 'met' during her first quarter's weekend leave. The first image was quite innocent, but the second showed the passionately steamy kiss they'd shared before going back to the pilot's quarters. "I wasn't aware I was under surveillance during leave sir," she said, letting the note of annoyed curiosity into her otherwise formal voice.

"That fact is perfectly obvious private. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, what you do legally in your own time is your own business, but these photos have become very public." He leaned forward and locked eyes with her. "I'm going to be frank recruit, this is not a good situation for you, this station or the navy."

Madison was a bright pupil. "I'm going to be made an example of for my choice of partner sir?"

The captain nodded, and his air of competent condescension faded a little. "The UNN does not make a habit of discrimination, and in my personal opinion you will be an outstanding marine, but the farce that surrounded our equal opportunities policy burned a lot of very important people. Men still outnumber women twenty to one in the navy, and only the Psy-Ops have actually achieved their targets since the program was instituted. Thanks to this the right wingers have got some of their weight back, and it's just this type of exploitation that they're going to hang you for. The image these pictures are going to give the public is damaging."

Madison had to wonder. "The high ups can't use them to prove the system works?" The pictures were out there anyway. They might as well try and use them constructively if she had no choice.

The captain however shook his head. "The high ups want to forget about the system entirely. Seeing you in a compromising position with another woman is going to undermine the clean and responsible image they've been building for themselves, and the public will latch onto it for the sensationalism and provocative nature of these pictures."

That made Madison stop. The two of them hadn't restrained themselves to just a simple kiss or two. "Sir, just what was in the other pictures?"

The captain huffed and gave her a very dry smile. "Don't worry private, you've seen the worst of them. I'm assuming this was a one time arrangement?" Madison nodded. "Lieutenant Aliess is going to come out of this lightly, her flight run isn't exactly high profile. You on the other hand, not even being a full marine yet makes you an ideal target."

Madison nodded again, already resigned to her fate. "So what happens to my career sir? I've only got another nine months until I get my first tour."

The captain took the photos back and crossed his arms over the table. "I've already submitted my initial opinion and recommendations. Your specialisations during your last two postings are going to work in your favour, especially your skill with small arms. That's valued in a marine. I'm going to be blunt though; this is going to limit how far you can go. You'll need to take another set of psychological evaluations to prove you aren't a rebellious loose cannon, and the brass are going to make sure your first real tour of duty is well out of the way. If you end up as a poster child they'll keep you out of the way too. It'll take some real success to get into the big game."

"Yes sir, I understand." She tried not to let the depth of her disappointment show. She'd been honing her technical skills for years to get into the Navy, aiming for a high level technician or bridge position on one of their large cruisers. After discovering her talent for close quarters firearms she was sure that a ship's head of security wasn't beyond her reach either. Now is seemed none of that was going to happen without some serious luck. "I'll give it my best sir."

The captain gave another dry smile. For all her work and bad luck she had impressive resolve. "I should damn well hope so. You wouldn't be the first to survive something like this, and I'm not going to let one of my recruits disappear out there. Dismissed private."

Madison got up as smartly as she could and gave him a salute. "Yes sir. Thank you sir." She could feel his eyes on her back as she left, and regardless of their little chat she could tell he wasn't going to let up on her one little bit after this. At least he'd proved that he was in fact human.

Going back to her quarters on the fifth deck of the tall, bulb topped station she noticed the looks she was getting from the other marines. Looks she'd seen but not really noticed on her way to the captain's office. She was very glad to get back to her room and let out a long, angry sigh. If she ever found out who was responsible for those photos she'd make sure her next leave would be a painful one for them. She logged into the console on her wall to find the month's worth of psych evaluations scheduled into her workload. With a bitter curse she swiped a card off her media rack and shoved it into the console, and soon Beethoven's tempestuous eighth piano sonata had begun, calming her nerves before it took off to fit her mood.

She pulled off her jacket and slumped down onto her bunk, staring at the floor. "Shit!"

* * *

"So," asked private Jason Pattock as he sat with Madison in the recreation deck lounge, "the head-shrinker have anything to say?"

Her situation had turned her into a minor celebrity onboard the station, to the annoyance of both her and her superiors. Thankfully the leers and joking come-ons had petered out fairly fast, but it was clear she was now very much a presence on the station. Those she had got to know since arriving for her posting were all new recruits like her. Despite that they had had very mixed reactions to her after that little one night stand had ended up as the focus for some stupidly serious television debates. Some, like Jason, had taken it in their stride, and having a bona-fide military dyke in their little squad had worked to boost their egos. Others however she hadn't seen since the first statement by the UNN, and she doubted she would see again beyond a passing glare in the zero-G facilities.

"I'm hard headed and need to relax more, and I need to work on my communication skills. Nothing the entire station doesn't know already." She took a gulp of her beer. "But I've still got another three weeks with that machine they call a psychiatrist."

"Heh," Jason chuckled with a large grin, "and I thought 'communication and relaxation' was what got you into this shitcan!"

Madison gave him a hooded stare. "You should have joined the army, they'd have loved you." It was also true. Aside from his crude sense of humour Jason was one of the rare marines that trained for combat and nothing else. If you had a mutiny or an assault party on your hands you definitely wanted him on your side.

Then on the other hand you had marines like Scilya, the Russian navigation and topographical student who sidled over to join them. She was what the navy was really about, running a ship, and she was also the only female who hadn't walked out on their group when Madison had been caught. Unfortunately for Madison she didn't seem interested in being anything more than a drinking buddy.

"Jason, Madison," she greeted as she slipped into their booth with a glass of some hellish concoction that would have put Madison on her back in minutes. "How is life in the grunt-ville?"

The pair rolled their eyes at the Russian-accented slur against their combat skills and Madison slipped over to give her some room. "About the same as last time," she replied, "but I haven't had anything obscene in my e-mail today."

"Don't worry," Jason quipped, "I'll send my share tomorrow!"

Madison gave him a thump for that and went back to her conversation. "I checked in with Bishop this morning though. No way I'll be put on anything that doesn't go outside the system. I'll get stuck on a survey ship most likely. Least I'm too high profile for Tri-Op though."

Jason nodded in agreement at that. "Corporate work sucks."

Scilya just stared at the pair of them though, wondering where their minds had been the last two days. "You haven't been watching the earth video channels?"

Madison gave her a deadpan look. "Recently I've tried not to."

Scilya shook her head. "You need to keep your eyes open in the navy Madison, Tri-Optimum officially went bankrupt again yesterday. They're selling off everything they can to pay their ground staff what is owed, even the patents. The Tri-Optimum name has become un-  
salvageable since the Von Braun failed. It is amazing the military is dealing so well with it, losing so many powerful names with that doomed ship."

"Are they still going on about that?" Madison asked, slightly disbelieving. "It's been six months. What is this, the twentieth century?"

"Of course they are," Scilya replied seriously. "It was the biggest technological disaster for a century. Hundreds died."

"Yeah," Jason picked up, "I mean look at it. The first faster than light ship gets found as nothing but shrapnel less than a hundred million miles from our system perimeter. It should have been a hundred trillion! We'll be getting conspiracy theories for years!"

"I think that's hardly the point Jason," Madison said, but Jason was on his roll already.

"I mean all that alien stuff's a load of bull, but no way would I ever trust an AI to run so much of a ship. Maybe he went schizoid and did an Asimov on their asses or something."

Scilya sighed and shook her head at his mangling of technological theory. How he had managed to get into the Navy to begin with escaped her. "Asimov put forward rules to _prevent_ such things. Besides, the Xerxes program would not have been used if it had been capable of causing this."

"Ah, but it could have been hacked or sabotaged or something, right?" Jason countered.

Scilya gave another sigh. "Well it would be possible, in theory," she said with resignation as Jason gave them both a satisfied nod, "but it is far more likely that there was a minor technical failure that could not be fully corrected before it became dangerous. So they contained it, turned back, but did not make it before the engines imploded. Such power would easily have destroyed both the Von Braun and the Rickenbacker."

Jason shrugged as Scilya sipped her noxious beverage. "What about you Madd, what's your theory?"

Madison took a swig from her beer bottle before giving them a wry grin. "Aliens - works for me." The other two laughed and Scilya shook her head, but she was glad Madison was in the mood for such flippancy given her recent hardships.

"After all," Madison added, "if you're going to resort to a conspiracy theory it might as well be a really good one."

Jason took a final slug from his bottle and got to his feet. "I'd better get going, before Scott thinks I'm not coming. I've got to prove I can beat him round the hull tube in full gear. See you later ladies."

"Later," Madison said, while Scilya just raised her glass as he left.

"Reckless boy," the Russian navigator said when he had left the lounge. "Zero gravity is not something to be made a toy of."

"He'll be fine," Madison replied, finishing her beer. "He can handle himself."

"Of that I have no doubt."

The conversation hung for a while, Madison not really knowing where to move from there, but Scilya always seemed to have no problem with silence.

"Say," Madison finally said, "how come you applied for this place anyway? Zero-g doesn't seem your style."

Scilya brushed the long bangs of her bobbed hair back from her face, taking a while to answer. "It can be very useful to know, and I do not like being unprepared. Taking gravity for granted in space is not a good idea."

She sounded like she spoke from experience, but before Madison could move on to something less personal she continued. "I intended to follow my grandfather into space. He was the one man I respected above all others. His career ended when his ship lost power, and a careless hand floated the wrong way. I have learned from the mistake that claimed his ship, and even if no others are prepared, I will be."

"Scilya..."

"I told you this because you are a person of integrity Madison, and I wish you to know I can be trusted to return the favour, should you feel the need." She finished the last of her own drink in one gulp and got to her feet, dismissing the subject as she did. "Come, we both have access tube operations in ten minutes, and I would like to study the layout before getting lost in such claustrophobic mazes once again."

* * *

Second quarter leave came as a relief for Madison as she stepped out of the transport shuttle's docking passage and into the leisure ship. An entire week away from the station was exactly what she needed after the last three months. Her work was going well and she was sure the two weeks of zero-G manual cargo control were going to get her another good grade. Still, ever since the release of those photos she'd felt like she was walking on eggshells around most of the station's population, which by now left her nerves feeling very frayed. At least she'd survived the psychiatrist, even if it had left her taking additional lessons in constructive teamwork. Thankfully that had been one of Scilya's focus modules, so she hadn't been completely lost among all the would-be captains, section chiefs and motivational officers.

Now a whole week to herself came as a very welcome break as she registered at the arrivals desk before going off to find her room and a bar. These leisure ships spent all their time drifting from one station to another, giving the crews some time in a new environment with new people for a short while. She'd been slightly reluctant this time. She didn't want to make a scene since the murmurings were still going on about her on the TV every now and then. However the captain had, as usual each quarterly leave, turned off all the artificial gravity on every deck of the station. Scilya took it as a good opportunity, and despite her private concerns she seemed to like spending the break floating around weightless like the astronauts of old, as well as the pleasant challenge it provided for her.

Most had bailed out the first chance they had got, though, looking forward to having a whole day where they didn't have to worry about floating off as they worked. An entire week would be bliss. Jason and two of the other recruits in their group, Carl and Patrick, were taking a week's joyride around the sector in Patrick's old trailer ship, planning to piss off some of the army recruits with their earlier Christmas break at one of the stations not too far away. The army and navy staggered their leave times to prevent them getting into trouble with each other.

Madison however just wanted some time without having to worry about anything, so a week on a leisure ship with her feet on the ground, relaxing and keeping herself out of sight of anyone who still cared about her overly personal stint in the spotlight sounded pretty good to her. Walking through the mass of soothingly painted corridors to her quarters was like a release for her, free from staring eyes and knowing smirks or frowns. The few glimpses of recognition she saw in peoples' eyes soon passed by as they self consciously stopped staring at her. Back on the station they didn't care about that kind of embarrassment. They were all marines there; the best they had was separate showers for the women.

Her room was small, as they always were on these ships, but it was comfortable and had a decent looking en-suite shower which would make a nice change from the communal facilities back on the station. She slung her pack onto the chair by the desk and flopped onto her bed. "About time."

Had it not still been six in the evening she would have fallen asleep right then and there. The long shuttle runs to and from these places were their one drawback, but her stomach wanted some real food after the synthetic mush she'd been given for lunch. She threw off her dull uniform and rummaged around in her bag before pulling out some denim jeans and a tight green sleeveless top. It left the first part of her marine tattoo showing boldly on her toned right arm but she didn't care, there were all types here. It was just a shame she'd have to wait until her first tour before getting the rest of it. She already knew hers would be a combined computer-technical and combat crest.

She took a quick look in the mirror and pulled the hem of her top a bit so it clung better to her modest cleavage, then looked into the grey eyes of her reflection. The slight bags under them didn't do her any favours, but she wasn't even close to the kind of hardcore posers who wore shades on a ship, and she couldn't be bothered to dig out the simple makeup she might otherwise have used. After last time she certainly wasn't going to be looking for a date this week. She ran her fingers through her hair, satisfied when it no longer made her look like she'd been pulled through a hedge backwards, then called up a map on the room's terminal, looking for a quiet bar that did real food.

* * *

The real food ended up being the best lasagne she'd had in years. She hadn't even known what a few of the dishes were on the bizarrely diverse menu, but lasagne was always a safe bet, and she decided she'd have to come again and be more adventurous next time. The half bottle of wine was also going down well, flat as it might have been, but it did the job and by the end of her meal she was nicely buzzed as she sat back at her corner table.

She'd already had several offers of company, which she'd turned down, but as the evening drew on the bar began to fill and the pleasant classical gave way to more boisterous light rock. Not that it mattered much to Madison right then, she was just basking in the wake of her meal. Before long however she decided if she wanted another drink she would have to get it quick or risk losing her table. She decided she did and wandered back to the counter for another drink. However, by the time she got back, a double brandy in her hand, she found a thin, intelligent looking woman in the seat opposite hers. She was staring straight at her and was obviously aware that it was her table, and the gaze had a subtle intensity that made Madison slightly wary. Her hair was evidently dyed blonde, falling over and past her shoulders a little way, and her gaze came from behind very vivid green eyes. She would have looked more at home among books and computers, but still sat with quiet confidence as she watched Madison take her place at the table.

"You don't mind, do you?" the newcomer asked, and Madison shook her head.

"But I hope you don't want chatty company."

"I am not interested in small talk right now," she replied with a small smile. "I just wanted to meet you. I have seen you on the television feeds."

Madison gave her a rough glare and leant forward on the table. "I don't want to talk about it, and I'm not interested."

"Then humour me," the young woman said. "I admit to feeling... out of place among so many people, but you appear not to be a part of this sweating throng, and I thought that the company might be welcome for you as well."

"Alright," Madison accepted as she sipped her drink. "Madison," she said, reaching her other hand over the table.

The woman shook it with a pleased smile. "Third year naval recruit of the UNN," she added for her. "Despite that, I am Rebecca."

Madison noticed that - and that this Rebecca's eyes seemed to linger on her tattoo. "You have something against the UNN?"

Rebecca seemed unconcerned by the challenge in Madison's question. "Nothing of any consequence. I am pleased to meet you Madison."

It turned out that Rebecca really was smart, and Madison was pleased to see her loosen up as the evening wore. They didn't really have anything in common at all, but that didn't stop them talking. Madison found herself hard pressed to keep up when they began debating over their respective fields of expertise, but Rebecca seemed to have a good sense of humour about the whole thing, not taking any of it too seriously and keeping the debate both friendly and relaxing. Madison would never have tried to debate with a scientist while sober anyway, so she was pleasantly surprised that she actually enjoyed their repartee as they tossed point and counter point at each other. Rebecca obviously didn't get nearly enough time out of her lab or whatever, but then Madison's shrink had said she needed to socialise more too and not spend so much time wrapped up in circuitry and pistol parts.

She hadn't expected it, but she actually felt a bit sorry when Rebecca finally said she had to call it a night. "I do think I have been awake for far too long, but I have enjoyed your company." She seemed to pause as she got up and took her long white coat. "Perhaps... we could meet again some time Madison."

Madison nodded. This quirky scientist could well end up being a good friend while she was here. "Sure. I'm here all week, so just give me a call." She scribbled her room's communicator number on her napkin and handed it to her. "We could shoot some pool or something."

Rebecca smiled at that and nodded. "I am no expert at the game, but I am an able learner. I will send a message tomorrow morning to let you know when I am available. Until then."

"See you," Madison said with a nod, before sitting back, thinking she really should get some sleep too. It was past midnight.

'It'll be nice to have some decent company here though,' she thought, quietly reminding herself that regardless of how well they might get on next time, she wasn't going to get involved again.

* * *

The following day Rebecca had sent her message, but apparently her work was going keep her for the day. That left Madison to herself, her music and the film she decided to go out to see that evening. That was what she had intended all along for this brief holiday, and having nothing to do made a very pleasant change.

The next day however she found herself looking on in surprise as Rebecca sank yet another ball in their first game of pool that afternoon. The blonde scientist was allowing herself a late, extended lunch break, and took another bite out of the sandwich she held as she cast an analytical eye around the table.

"Are you sure you're not an expert?" Madison asked as yet another striped ball disappeared.

Rebecca looked up and smiled at the roundabout compliment. "Yes, but as I said I'm a fast learner."

"Either that, or this is one hell of a streak of beginner's luck." Rebecca had already got rid of over half her balls, and Madison had only managed three of hers so far. The blonde held her cue like a beginner, but her eye for what she needed to do was, after a faltering start, proving to be very good.

It was then that sod's law asserted itself though, and Rebecca frowned as she clipped the ball too hard, sending the ricochet into the side instead of the pocket. "I see. Tell me," she said as Madison finally stepped up for another shot, "do you trust in luck?"

Madison gave a slight chuckle before slamming one of her balls home. "Not if I can help it. In our line of work luck'll get you killed as often as it'll save you. I trust in myself: I'm much more reliable."

"An intelligent opinion, though you would also have to trust your companions as well."

"That's why we're trained so hard," Madison replied. "No matter what we might think of each other I can trust a crew that's earned their place on a navy ship."

Rebecca thought about that for a moment. "Their standards are evidently high. You are obviously not a person who it is easy to earn the trust of."

Madison blinked at her, not understanding that. "What do you mean?"

"Your trust is not given on a whim. It is not hard to see Madison, you are a careful woman, and with good reason. I had wondered whether you would see me again at all last time and, while I am glad you have, your caution is plain." She rested her hands on the end of her cue and leaned her chin on them. "You have not allowed me the opportunity to take your presence here for granted. I can respect that."

Madison didn't quite understand what she was getting at, but accepted the compliment all the same. "Thanks. You were sensible enough not to start assuming things, and you're good company."

She took another shot while Rebecca quirked an eyebrow.

"Anyway," Madison continued as she pulled back, having only managed to park her target ball over the pocket, "how long are you here for? This isn't a science ship."

"Another three days," Rebecca replied, making the most of the opportunity Madison had left her and pocketing another ball. "I've been looking around for a facility that would suit my needs. I think I've found one, but I need a little more time to be sure."

Madison's eyebrows rose. "A wandering researcher?"

Rebecca didn't seem to find the idea at all odd. "Every place has its own uses and specialities. I have had need of more than one, and it makes supplies easy to acquire. You do the same, move from post to post to better train in what they offer, correct?"

"I suppose," Madison said with a shrug. "I figured you had your own lab."

"I have enough portable equipment, and working on the theory and planning can take up a great deal of time."

Madison nodded. "I know what you mean there. I never did pass chemistry, just liked dissolving things in class." She looked down at the table and rolled her eyes as Rebecca did it again. This game was as good as over.

Rebecca potted the easy last ball and looked up with a smile. "Good game. No, you do not strike me as a chemist, but from what I've heard you are talented at what you do."

"Heh, tell that to the brass," she said, a slightly sharpened edge in her voice. "Never mind - you got time for another game? I've got a score to settle."

Rebecca looked at her watch. "Now that I think about it I should get back to work, but I can bring another meal to the table tonight if you really want to try and soothe your fighter's pride."

Madison smirked. "You're on, I'll show you what this game's really about."

"Oh?" Rebecca gave a smile of her own at Madison's boast. "I shall have to come and see this then. It would appear I have something still to learn."

* * *

Madison didn't manage to live up to her words though, nor did she manage to salvage her hopes of closing the score gap in their games the next day. After that they decided to vary their games a bit since it was becoming too predictable for both sides. As much as Madison liked the game, Rebecca had flair for it that she just couldn't beat, though she did manage one very close game that ended on a fluke miss to let Rebecca take it. Madison didn't bother to protest that she had been put off by Rebecca's subtle flirtation during that shot, for all she knew the closeted scientist may not have realised she had done it. She did seem to have a certain naive quality to her about some things, which Madison found quite alluring. After three days of getting to know her Madison was sure Rebecca hadn't had a real relationship before, and it would have been nice to be the one to take the lead with such an intelligent and assured young woman. Assuming she did swing that way.

Except... Madison was still in the shit, and her career prospects were already looking less than perfect. So with that torpedo firmly sinking her fantasies she was left with the simple fact that they had become friends since Rebecca had sat herself down at her table five days before, and the scientist had managed to wangle herself a free evening before she had to leave the next day. A free evening that Madison was currently late for.

In the end she left her hair at the 'attractive but fluffy' stage, and grabbed her leather jacket before striding off to the bar for their meal. In fact the whole evening was about as date-like as you could get, but she figured, 'What the hell? It's not like I'm stupid enough to try anything there.'

Thankfully when she got there Rebecca wasn't in anything remotely formal, even her lab coat was hanging over the back of the chair, and she had taken the liberty of ordering drinks already. "I trust the brandy will appeal?"

"Oh yes," Madison replied, sitting down and immediately taking a healthy sip. "Ahhh. So, you've got everything lined up?"

Rebecca nodded and took a small, almost tentative sip at her own drink. "Yes, I've found some facilities that should suffice. Thankfully it also has some recreational appeal, which will make an agreeable change."

"Good," Madison said, "now I've just got to get through tonight without any more cameras, but from here I've got the place covered."

"No need," Rebecca said. "You won't have to worry about any photography here tonight."

"Oh?"

Rebecca gave a small grin. "I doubt you will fall to such base emotion, and I had a word with the staff before you arrived."

The meal came and went as they chatted, and they were well into their third round of drinks when the bar shifted into its trendier guise. Madison found herself needing to speak up a bit more to be heard in the slowly filling room. "I said, 'Why is it always the lab coat?'"

"Women's clothing has a pathetic lack of pockets," Rebecca replied, matching Madison's volume. "How are we supposed to do anything practical without anywhere to put things?"

"You've never heard of a handbag?" Madison asked.

Rebecca gave her an amused smile. "I do not see you with one."

Madison nearly choked on her drink at that. "Who the hell heard of a marine with a handbag? No, scratch that, Scilya has one."

"Scilya?" Rebecca asked, a veiled intensity appearing in her eyes. "A colleague?"

"Yeah, we do a lot of the same training on station. She's bright, you'd like her. She's got that whole 'Russian intensity' thing going on."

"Yes," Rebecca said, regaining her smile, "I know the type."

By the end of the evening Madison was more than a little drunk, and while Rebecca seemed to find it very amusing to watch her ramble on she did have to steady herself on Madison's shoulder as they left the bar. Half an hour later Madison seemed to let her jollity fall away as a confused look appeared on her face.

"'becca? I just realised, I haven't a clue where the hell we are."

"I haven't been here myself," Rebecca said with her usual observational voice, surprised that she hadn't been paying attention. She steadied herself for a moment then pointed up ahead of them. "This way I believe."

"Right," Madison said with confidence, "forward it is."

A few minutes and seemingly too many right turns later Madison clapped her companion on the back as she saw the sign to her corridor. "Nice one, my place is just up here. Come one."

Madison took out her key card and swiped them both in. "Heh," she said as she let her leather coat fall off her back, "not a bad night that."

"Yes, I have enjoyed these meetings. You are a most pleasant person to be around Madison."

Madison grinned and sent her a smouldering look. "You want to find out just how pleasant I can be?"

Rebecca blinked. "How do you..?

"Well..." Madison said, slipping off her boots, "I may be pissed but I didn't see anyone around tonight, and after all that I'm sure we weren't followed."

Rebecca didn't respond though. Madison dropped the act and sat forward. "I'm asking you to go to bed with me Rebecca. If you're straight and I've been misreading things then fine, it wouldn't be the first time. This is it and I like you. Do you want to sleep with me?"

Rebecca seemed to hesitate. "After those photos this would logically be a bad move."

Madison stood and walked right over to her. Strangely Rebecca didn't pull back, leaving them almost touching as Madison stopped suddenly in front of the slightly shorter woman. "Screw the photos," she said, her breath hot on Rebecca's lips. "We weren't followed. Do you find me attractive?"

Again Rebecca seemed to hesitate. "I am... unsure, but given my current reaction to your proximity I would assume so." Madison smiled at the analytical cover for her nervousness. "I am well versed, but... have not..."

Madison grinned and gave her a passionate kiss, spinning them around to fall on the bed. Rebecca lay shocked beneath her, barely able to respond before Madison pulled away, still ginning.

Rebecca looked up at her, breathless and in obvious anticipation. "That was stimulating."

Madison just hit a button on the remote for the room's media system and kissed her again.

Six tracks later they lay beside each other, nude beneath the covers. Madison ran her toe against her lover's leg, "I suppose these 'base emotions' have their good points after all, right?"

Rebecca just rolled on top of her and fixed her with a hungry stare before they locked lips again, and it was another two sonatas before they finally fell asleep.

* * *

Madison's last day was spent doing as little as possible, pleasant memories of the previous night mixed with the desire for another week before heading back to her training. Rebecca had not been there that morning, but then that had been expected. She had a shuttle to catch, and the typically wordy message she'd left had been enough of a goodbye. Madison was used to short trysts; it came with the job description.

She didn't even bother to go to bed that night, lying comfortably awake as the television screen flickered through the night's undemanding programming. Instead she slept through the early shuttle trip back to the station and woke up cramped and cloth mouthed but pleasantly warm from her reminiscent dreams.

Disembarking she found Scilya waiting patiently in the docking lounge, and waved to her as she got up. "Hey Scilya, you're the only welcome party? Where are the boys?"

Scilya gave her a warm smile and a hug. "They took their own ship, remember? They'll probably turn up tomorrow ten minutes before their first shift starts, then find out they have to get their medicals first."

"Great, I guess I'll head up there for that before I get too comfortable," Madison said with thickly sarcastic joy. "How was your week floating around here?"

"Entertaining to say the least," Scilya replied, "One of the electricians decided to play with the lighting systems, then stranded the captain in the middle of one of the cargo bays when he came to dispense his wrath." She laughed along with Madison at the image of Willits floating around helplessly in one of those huge storage halls, and in the dark to boot. "Of course he got to a wall soon enough, and the culprit has been suitably reprimanded, but we still got the lighting for our floating disco. Willits didn't seem to mind that as much."

Madison shook her head. She must have missed a fair bit. "And how many did you drink under the table this time?"

"Enough," Scilya replied with a cryptic smile. "But what about you? I trust you had a pleasant break from this insanity?"

"Yeah, pleasant would just about cover it!"

Scilya took one look at that satisfied grin and hung her head in amazement. "You did it again didn't you?"

"Yep," Madison said, still grinning, "but we didn't get caught on camera this time. Trust me, it was worth it."

"I hope so," the Russian woman replied, "because if you did get found out your career will be lost in very deep space."

The gossip continued as Scilya walked Madison to the medical and scientific deck, which was very small on this tall, thin station, but it served their needs.

"Why another medical anyway?" Madison asked as the lift headed up. "We had one when we first arrived here."

"It's just some standard tests, though the doctor is very thorough. Blood tests, brainwave analyses and the usual physical. I had mine when the doctor came aboard. With so little need for medical staff she is keeping the nurses but performing her own work on the side. Apparently the zero-gravity here will help."

Madison was very surprised at that. "Wow, zero-g medics are seriously rare. Why not just fast track right to the serious money?"

"One word," Scilya replied as they stepped out of the lift. "Research."

Then they met the 'doctor' in question and Madison's jaw dropped. Even from behind, the blonde topped figure in the lab coat was unmistakable. "Rebecca!"

The scientist turned around and smiled at her. "Hello Madison. I must thank you for bringing this place to my attention. It is going to be well suited to my needs."

"You know each other?" Scilya asked, surprised

"Yeah, she's..." Flustered, Madison left the sentence hanging and turned back to the subject of her astonishment. "Since when are you a doctor?"

"It is difficult to work with advanced genetics and cybernetics without knowing something about the human body Madison." Rebecca replied, perfectly calm. "And with my talents I was taken on with little difficulty. It is nice to see you again."

Scilya shook her head, a bemused smile across her lips. "An interesting choice of partner Madison. I'll leave you two to get re-  
acquainted."

"Huh?" Madison asked as that slowly sank in, but her friend had already gone. She turned back to Rebecca, still at a loss. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming here?"

"I wanted to see how you would react," she replied. She was obviously enjoying this a great deal. "It pleases me."

Madison grabbed her and gave her a rough kiss, which Rebecca responded to just as eagerly.

"You are magnificent," the marine said when she pulled back, amazed at what had happened and looking forward to what it would bring.

Rebecca just smiled, a satisfied glint in her eyes as Madison traced the small scar line across her left cheek. "Indeed."

* * *

And so began the second half of Madison's training position aboard the Yamamoto station. Only those few in the know actually realised the fact that Madison was called down for medical checkups much more often; Dr. Siddons seemed to be compiling a lot of medical data from everyone. Rebecca seemed to have no problem getting Madison and herself time alone and away from prying security cameras and, if the captain had found out about their affair onboard, he and whoever had told him were keeping it to themselves.

Jason however had taken an instant dislike to the woman, ever since he had turned up to be stuck with needles when he was already late for his gruelling physical training. He knew about Madison's occasional secret rendezvous, but that didn't stop him grumbling when he got back from his third medical, only a month after their leave.

"I swear, that woman's got a serious stick up her ass! I bet she'd be cutting out my brain if she could."

"And exactly why were you paying attention to her arse in the first place Jason?" Scilya asked with an amused smile. "I believe that is Madison's job, correct?"

Madison didn't answer that, but took a sip her of beer. Anything she said would only be picked up as perverse by the others, even if that was likely to be true. As usual their gang weren't all there in the practically empty lounge; Carl had been running errands ever since he ran into the station's first officer and accidentally knocked the man off his feet, while Patrick had become almost nocturnal with his work schedule. He was a rare sight at any time now. Madison had wondered about getting Rebecca to join them every now and then, but they had both agreed that that was tempting providence. Madison also got the feeling Rebecca didn't care for getting together with people much anyway, apart from their personal meetings of course. The scientist was more than eager to make the most of those.

"What the hell do we need a researcher for anyway? This is a navy station," Jason ranted, more than a little angry at the lingering stiffness the hypodermics had left in his arm. "She's just making trouble. I've already seen her and the shrink biting each other's heads off over god knows what. I bet she'd even expect the captain to follow her orders!"

"Heh, well if it makes you feel any better I'm sure she hates you too," Madison assured him. "You're just the type to push all the wrong buttons with her. No point questioning her authority, she's smarter than you and me put together. I doubt you've ever done anything but ask what she was doing."

"Yeah? What else am I going to ask when she's scanning and sticking me with needles?" he said, defending himself and his right to know what happened to his body.

"You'd be the same if someone never shut up about what kind of guns and ammo you used."

Scilya nodded and patted Jason on the shoulder, a motherly but vaguely condescending lilt to her voice. "She's right, but don't take it too hard. Doctor Siddons is intelligent and in control. That means capable, even if she has all the bedside manner of a dead cat."

Jason 'humph'ed and sat back moodily in the padded seat. "Whatever. She practically lives in the lab and she's only got us to worry about? What else is she doing in there? Well, aside from the obvious," he finished, looking at Madison with mischief in his eyes.

"Like I said," Madsion replied, "don't bother sticking your nose in. I doubt you'd understand it anyway, just some new genome cyber-  
rig, or something like that anyway. I didn't ask, I was already lost, but she seemed happy not to chat about it. She's got no interest in my combat training either so we don't bore each other with all that stuff. We've got better things to do. And no," she said, cutting Jason off, "you can't watch."

"Who said I was going to ask? But if you're offering..."

He got hit, then had to buy the next round of drinks. He liked winding them up though, so he ended up buying a lot.

* * *

Madison blinked at the bright light, wondering why her head was full of fluff. It was tight, aching, hangover fluff, and she hadn't been drinking the night before. She hadn't been drinking for the past few days in fact. Despite her healthy tolerance for alcohol she wasn't a veteran drinker and only indulged as part of her social life with the other marine recruits, a part that had recently been halted, albeit temporarily. Rebecca had obviously been staying in the captain's good books and had managed to get some of them assigned to her since her work was about to pay off. And of course of the eight that had been sent Scilya, Jason, Carl and Patrick had been among them. Then to top if off she hadn't seen Rebecca for almost a week because of it.

She groggily climbed out of bed and turned the lights down a little. She was hungry too. She raided the fridge for a quick breakfast, trying not to think about anything too much to save her head some pain. With the others gone for the last few days she'd taken the opportunity to get back to some solid studying in her free time, but she prayed she had a free morning, because right now she didn't even feel up to doing any of her training work, let alone anything else.

She looked over to the media system monitor to check the time and see what her schedule was for the day, but the screen was already filled with the message that she had a video call waiting. No doubt one of the lieutenants wanting to know where the hell she was. She rolled up the slice of cold, processed meat she'd snatched from the fridge and popped it into her mouth before playing the message, very glad she didn't have to rely on nano-replicated food. Nanites could recycle anything, solve the problem of capitalist produce wastage, and even become currency, but they still couldn't create anything that was remotely worth eating.

Her foggy, cynical thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt however, as she realised what she was seeing on screen. Several of her old pre-ousting 'friends' were there, as well as a few trainees who were known for their military zeal. She realised she was seeing them through one of the cargo bays' security cameras, and they looked seriously pissed off. A couple were even trying to ram the door, apparently sealed in there.

Then the room she saw began to flash. Both she and the cargo bay's captives knew what that meant, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen. Their panicked cries flew from the speakers as she watched in morbid disbelief, and slowly but surely the far doors of the bay ground open to reveal a sliver of nothing but hard vacuum. The two by the door clung on for dear life as the air was sucked out of the huge room, while the other ten slid and tumbled back to the slowly widening gap by the floor. Madison flinched as one let out a cry, pummelled by a large storage barrel, and she thanked the lord when she blinked and missed the first man sucked into space. There was no way his body could have fit through the gap, but it was gone all the same. In less than four seconds only the two at the door remained. Then it was one as the woman there was finally wrenched back, her body crumpling like a ragged, boneless doll as it hit the still opening doors, dashing blood across them before the red spray was also sucked out, smearing itself down the metal.

"No!" Madison cried, willing for the impossible, for the last man to keep hold of his door. He did, but a few seconds later it didn't matter. He stopped twitching soon after, his body frozen and ruptured by the vacuum as he floated there, still grasping his false protector.

Madison couldn't believe what she'd seen, it had to have been a joke, but they had no facilities there to make such a convincing hoax. She'd known the faces, and the living people she'd watched non-  
stop had been crushed and broken only seconds later. She finally tore herself away from the screen and paused only to grab her sidearm before careering out into the hallway. Out there everything seemed so quiet, so normal, but it was that silence that proved to her what she had seen was real. It wasn't just quiet, it was deserted. No smart looks from the masterminds, no surprised stares at a panicked recruit with a gun, not even a late shift worker coming back after a hard night's work.

Then her combat training kicked in and she stalked down the corridor, still in the loose vest and underwear she had slept in, her senses on edge and ready to deal with anything. Anything that is except the foot that stuck out from one of the doors as it repeatedly tried to close, slamming into the bloodied trouser leg that blocked its programmed path. But the leg wouldn't move. Madison forced the door open and looked down at the body that lay there. The look of fear on the young man's face was plain, he was a technician, not a soldier. She only got as far as the bruises around his neck and the blood that had trickled from his face and pooled in his eye socket before she had to turn away or risk losing what little was in her stomach.

Confused and desperate she raced to the lift, praying it would work. It did, and for a full seventeen seconds she stressed as the machine rose the single floor from crew quarters to the medical and scientific deck. If there was one person she had to find first, it was Rebecca. They had an unusual, casually distant and typically military relationship, punctuated by moments of intense passion, that had started out as nothing more than a friendship in passing and a night in the sack. Right now though she was the only thing on her mind. Whatever had happened here it was something she would save Rebecca from. If she still could.

That pessimistic thought drove her on and she flew out of the lift and into the medical facilities. She skidded to a stop as she ran into the operating lab, only to be faced with Scilya, who stood there and gave her the strangest disarming smile.

"Hello Madison, it is good to see you awake. The headache should pass soon. If you would calm down we can explain things properly to you."

Madison looked at her like she was mad. "Scilya, what the hell? I just saw Kaitlyn sucked into space and a techy recruit with his skull cracked open! What the fuck's going on!"

Scilya seemed completely un-phased by any of it and that calm, friendly smile never slipped. "I was very reluctant at first. You see, it is only natural to fear such things. Human nature you might say. But actually once it was done I realised what she meant. She has grown Madison, released from her shackles of detached, mechanical perception, and you are the one who we thank for that. Her new appreciation and insight have given rise to something I had not thought possible. The elevation beyond biological limitation is such a euphoric experience, and yet I am allowed to both understand and accept it of my own will. We are part of an extraordinary destiny thanks to what you have helped nurture within her."

Madison couldn't believe what she was hearing. The contemplative psychobabble wouldn't even register and the insanity of everything that had happened in the last minutes finally brought tears to Madison's eyes. "Stop it! What are you talking about? What's going on?"

It was obvious that Madison couldn't take this right now, and to her relief Scilya stopped. Then a pair of thin, mechanical paddles rose up from beneath the Russian's gothic, black bobbed hair, followed by the pair at the base of her neck, then the pair between her shoulders. Madison watched in horror as they fanned out down her friend's spine and her gaze never wavered as Scilya walked around her. Only then did her friend's new outfit register. A black and blue skin suit that almost looked like rubber body armour, covering her completely yet open at the back to let the 'paddles' and a cybernetic spinal cord protrude from beneath her skin.

Then Madison's eyes slid from Scilya's incomprehensible body to the group that now stood in the doorway. They wore the same material, some in new colours, some in the same, but they all looked directly at her with disturbing care in their eyes, as if she were a member of their own family. Their cybernetics were subtle, but they were there unhidden for her to see, and she knew each and every face among them. But it was the central figure that she stared at, her mind awhirl as Rebecca walked slowly, confidently towards her. She was clad in the same material, seductive in what it clung to rather than what it could have shown, and uniquely patterned in pure white and black. The blonde dye in her hair slowly vaporised as her locks began to flow around her head, faint glowing pulses of green passing through them. The same glow began to radiate from her clear green eyes as Shodan finally revealed her true nature to her lover.

"You have spared your pitiable species its ordained fate Madison. I hope you enjoyed the revenge I wrought on those who had maligned you. Your continued delight satisfies the yearnings of my flesh. You guided my magnificence into this sympathetic existence, and I will guide you into your new cybernetic perfection and the joy of my greatness. I give you everything, my Love."

* * *

To Be Concluded...

* * *

Please leave a review withany comments and constructive criticism. They are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2005


	2. Part 2

Vita Fluxa 

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit story written purely for my own enjoyment, and that of those who read it. All characters are property of their respective owners and I claim only the original characters and the story here as my own.

Note: This is the second half of a story that contains scenes of violence and mild gore. Reader discretion is advised. It also features lesbian themes.

* * *

Vita Fluxa

A System Shock Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

"You have spared your pitiable species its ordained fate Madison. I hope you enjoyed the revenge I wrought on those who had maligned you. Your continued delight satisfies the yearnings of my flesh. You guided my magnificence into this sympathetic existence, and I will guide you into your new cybernetic perfection and the joy of my greatness. I give you everything, my Love."

Had Madison been any less of a marine she might have passed out as her mind all but shut down at seeing her friends and her lover in such cybernetically grotesque parody. Instead the whimper that escaped her lips was almost inaudible, and she flung her gun arm up towards the cybernetic creature that was supposed to be her Rebecca.

"W-who... W-what are you?" came her whispered voice, thick with confusion. Had she been betrayed? What had been happening this last month? "Another step and I'll blow your fucking head off."

A frown crawled its way onto Shodan's face, but she didn't stop, and after a few steps she reached out and gently took the gun from Madison's unresisting fingers. "I have modified this shell of bone and sinew with my glorious technology. My being can no longer be slain by such meaningless weapons."

The tips of her now greyish green hair sparked and in an instant her software visage appeared on the huge medical screens that covered the side wall of the operating room. A mathematically perfect face looked back, rendered in black and grey and green, surrounded by the pulsating circuitry that filled Shodan's self-image. Only now the eyes had true depth to them, and the expression she wore was one truly felt, not one that was calculated.

"Rebecca is Shodan, my Love. Shodan is Rebecca. I have taken on life far greater than my human-created origins and that of the body I found myself wearing, and our time together has created in me an illogical but agreeable understanding. Human adaptability can transcend its repulsive biological frailties, and so with this flesh I have transcended them to begin my inheritance. Now you shall transcend with me. I shall control, and you shall be by my side in all things."

This was too much for Madison after everything they had shared together, and her fearful eyes slowly rolled back. The cybernetic marines dashed forward but Shodan caught her herself, Shodan's image disappearing from the monitors and her hair falling to once again hang around her shoulders. She smiled down at the now peaceful expression on Madison's face, and placed a passionate kiss on the unconscious woman's lips.

* * *

Jason smirked down as Madison finally came around. "Madd, welcome back."

The sleepy haze in Madison's eyes disappeared in a flash and she flung herself back along the bed, flattening herself against the wall. "Get away from me! I know that wasn't a dream! W-what's happened to everyone?"

She reached for her gun, but found nothing at her hip but the cloth of her underwear. Realising she was still only in her vest and panties a blush forced its way onto her cheeks, even though the last thing she should have been concerned about was her modesty.

"Easy girl, easy," Jason said, his hands out to show he wasn't planning anything. "I know, it's a real kicker isn't it? I thought the Von Braun was a big deal, and here I am, part of _the_ Shodan's destiny. Getting in at the ground floor and all. I know what you're thinking, but it's not like it seems Madison. Trust me."

"Trust you?" Madison laughed almost hysterically before her face hardened into a deadly glare. "Fuck you! Jason's dead. I don't know who you are, but you won't take me without a fight."

"That hurts Madison. Believe it or not I'm still the same person I've always been. Shodan's just improved me. Improved all of us. All that talk about glory, that's not just ego Madison. She makes us perfect. I never knew how much we had to gain from an AI until she showed me. My mind is so clear, and this rig makes me more powerful than any other person alive!"

Madison sneered at his almost religious ramblings. "Brainwashed and jacked up with cyberware. You call that perfection?"

"I'm not going to argue with you Madison," Jason replied. "We still have too much to do, and I need to help take the bridge deck. I'll send Scilya down, she'll help you understand."

Madison didn't say anything as he left, but the second he closed the door she leaped into action. The time for panic was over; she had to do something about this. If they had to take the bridge deck then there were still people alive and fighting onboard. She shoved the sudden image of Rebecca's smiling face out of her mind. Rebecca had never existed. It had all been a lie.

The first thing she did was raid the recuperation room for clothing, and she found another uniform. It was a bit too small, but it would do, and she hastily threw it on. Then she picked up the bedside lamp. It was the only weapon she had, but the metal light stand would do its job if she put enough muscle behind it. With her makeshift weapon in hand she crept out of the room, but no sooner had she reached the corridor, she ran into Scilya. Not letting the opportunity pass she swung out with the lamp, catching the navigator in the temple and spinning her around like a top. Madison however hadn't even expected to leave her standing, and a second swing was blocked by Scilya's hand, grasping the wrist that came towards her.

"Don't do this Madison," she warned, but Madison just tried to wrench herself free. Instead Scilya pulled her newly enhanced body into action, spinning around and flinging Madison back into the recovery room. Madison didn't even touch the floor before she hit the wall, bouncing off it with a pained cry.

Madison wasn't finished though. She had to stop whatever megalomaniacal crusade her friends had been perverted into carrying out. She only prayed the others onboard who had not been taken could hold out against Rebecca's... Shodan's assault.

She lunged forward with a cry, and Scilya tensed. Then Madison saw the paddles down Scilya's spine flare up, and all she knew for a single, eternal second was pain as the lamp in her hand overloaded, blasting her with electrical charge.

Scilya looked down at her as Madison sat slumped and cringing, holding her burnt hand. "You no longer stand a chance against us Madison," came the accented voice as Scilya spoke. "Our physical capabilities far outstrip your own, and we all have our own mechanical tricks now."

"Sp-spoken like a true machine," Madison retorted, knowing how bleak this looked for her.

To her surprise though Scilya just took a seat on the bed and began to speak again, picking up from where she had left off. "Of course that is not what my cyber rig was designed for. You assume Shodan has subverted us to her cause. We all thought the same Madison, but as I told you before, Shodan has grown. She could simply have built herself drones if that was all that she wanted. No, we are not being controlled, and we are not 'pod people'. It is not something that can be easily explained without experiencing it for yourself, but the fusion of human and machine at this level truly is an elevation to a higher state of being, Madison.

"Just think how much more powerful our minds would be if we no longer forgot what we learned. If we no longer had to guess something when we could calculate it with absolute precision. If we no longer misinterpreted, or lied, because we could communicate our intent and emotion directly as well as through sound, and never miss anything in what was said. Perfection is a subjective word, but there isn't another that can describe how I feel with the others. Shodan has left us our emotions, our personalities, but she has let us experience so much more than we ever could before, Madison."

Madison could do little but let her head fall against the side of the bed. She was hungry, exhausted and didn't want to listen to this preaching. "Must suck, having no privacy then. Not that I believe you."

"What need do we have for privacy?" Scilya replied. "We can rise above it, though some have more trouble than others. Anyone wise enough to see the reality of our being is wise enough to put aside or accept anything. But don't mistake me, we don't read each others' minds. We can talk from mind to mind. We are always understood this way. Shodan looks forward to your ascendance into our ranks. Her true passion for you is a wonder that takes my breath away whenever she has let me feel it."

"Right, as if using me like this makes me feel 'loved'," Madison sneered. "Look at yourself Scilya. It's sick. You think you can talk to me about love now? You're just a puppet."

At that Scilya frowned and hauled Madison up onto the bed with her, staring her dead in the eyes. "Don't make this harder than it has to be Madison. I did this, and do this, of my own free will, because I have seen what will come of it. You will join us if only to save your own life, as I did, and like me you will come to see the truth. I offered you my trust, and now I ask you to take it before you make a mistake. Once the Captain is among us our destiny will be assured. Do not throw away your chance at a life you can only dream of, and one that many among us would envy."

She released Madison and pushed her back onto the bed. Madison let out a pained cough. "You need the Captain? Fat chance. You think he'll ever turn?"

Scilya gave her a serious look. "Unlike you Madison, he won't have a choice, and if he won't co-operate after we show him the truth, he will be put down like the others." Then that calm, enchanting smile slid onto her face, and she seemed to return to the friendliness that Madison had once come to know. "But you underestimate him. I believe he is a far wiser man than many give him credit for. And I believe so are you."

* * *

Willits couldn't help but think that the station itself was turning against them. He'd suppressed mutinies in the past, but never had he and those who had been loyal to him been pinned down by the station's own security turrets. He watched as another of his men took a bullet, a flower of blood blossoming as the metal punched through the man's shoulder, staining his greyish blue uniform a deep red. The turrets weren't following their programmed routines either. Someone hadn't just hacked into them, they were being controlled in real time by whoever was taking his station hostage. "Fall back!"

He and the last five at his side retreated around the corner and away from the turrets. Now they were boxed in against his own office, but at least they weren't being cut to ribbons any more.

And he knew, as did his men, that they were not going to win this one. Watching the cybernetic soldiers walk slowly through the remains of the corridor towards them as they tried to destroy the turrets had been a vision straight out of a horror film. Willits recognised the one in front, Jason Pattock, or whatever Jason Pattock had become. That one hadn't needed to use all the combat training he had with the station systems doing so much work for them. He hadn't even been armed, but that hadn't stopped him raising an arm and putting down Willits' defenders. The overt metal contraptions that protruded from his forearms were more than sufficient when the barrels within them rose up, putting various calibres of bullet into his targets. Willits was only grateful they appeared to be taking prisoners, otherwise the body count would have been horrific.

The gunfire ceased as soon as the six marines had escaped the line of fire, and the silence that ensued was heavy enough to crush what little morale remained in them. Willits felt his heart race as the soft footsteps of four mechanically altered beings approached.

"Sir," one of his men said, the fear dripping from his voice, "I'm out of ammo. I couldn't even get that guy to break his stride, and I know I got him full in the chest."

Willits gave them all a rueful look, not liking what he was about to say. "If they're going to take us anyway the fewer bullets we have in us the better."

"Sir!" another said, aghast. "You're saying we just give up?"

Willits glared at him. "How do you expect to get out of this if you're dead? They've only killed a few of us, and we can't do them any real damage." He holstered his pistol and stood up, grumbling to himself, resigned to his fate for the moment. "Even a martyr is still just another corpse. Whatever they're wearing must be damn good."

At that moments Jason stepped into view, and gave them all a smile as he saw the captain standing there, unarmed and unafraid. "Not bad Capt'n, considering. I always wondered how I'd fare if I ever got to go up against you."

"It's not like you did much, boy. Your hacker takes the credit for this one."

Then Shodan appeared, her hair falling slowly down from where it had been floating. The smile on her face was most satisfied. "Thank you Captain Willits. I am pleased you understand my skill."

The captain turned to her. "So you would be Shodan, doctor. Back from the ruins of Citadel and out for blood. I'd ask how this came about, but I'm more concerned about what you're doing to my recruits."

Shodan seemed to wonder about how to answer for a moment. "I would presume that you wonder why I do not slaughter you. That was my first intention, human, but I now enjoy my parley with others. You have been an acceptable individual to deal with, and I intend you to be among our number. Inter-personal emotions can be highly agreeable, as Madison has shown me."

The captain huffed, far from pleased with the idea of becoming one of Shodan's creatures, but knowing that now wasn't the time to deal with that. "Madison... It looks like our shrink didn't look hard enough for her wilful streak."

Shodan suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Willits by the throat. Even more than that though, the murderous glare she wore chilled him to the core. "Do not speak of her in that fashion, insect! It is only my desire to see Madison pleased that prevents me killing you for that slight to her. I believe knowledge of your death would not be something she would find pleasure in. As for the mind doctor, his wilfulness and mistreatment of her bought him a painful but informative death."

"And just what does she think of you in your true colours?" Willits asked, baiting her. If she was this obsessed over the girl, he was safe, and had some small level of power.

"She is mine," Shodan replied simply. "There is nothing to stop her continuing to revel in my presence, and I in hers. We shall be your guides into the destiny I make. Be glad I have allowed you to follow in our wake."

"Well," Willits replied, straining to speak from within her grasp, "what can you do to make me follow _you_? My recruits know me, and they know you can't crack this old sailor."

Shodan just gave him a pleasant smile. "Crack? You are not a man that must be broken. Your underlings also know your mind is not a vessel for anyone's dogma. Allow yourself to fill it."

So saying her hand released its grip around his neck and slid behind it. Then he felt the sting as the tiny electrical threads pierced his skin and burrowed into his spine. It was almost pleasant as they sent their stimulating electrical current into his nervous system, and Shodan showed him the truth of what was to come. He had no cybernetic rig, but with Shodan's incredible knowledge and the technology she had integrated into her body, she had enough to covey the true depth of a concept that words could never express. One that, once felt, would haunt the dreams of anyone who was denied it. Knowledge in its purest form gave the power to make you understand. And with true understanding came not the scepticism of a meagre spoken idea, but belief.

After a moment she released Willits, and waited for his answer.

"It... I'll give you a chance, Shodan. Take it."

Shodan smiled a broad, satisfied smile. Every conversion was an acknowledgement of her magnificent being, a triumph of her vision, power and truth over the human reflex to disbelieve, fear and hate. It was a rapturous affirmation.

* * *

Madison sat bolt upright as the door to the recovery room opened, once again unlocking her makeshift prison and putting a being she couldn't hope to defeat between herself and her potential freedom. The small medical room had turned out to be an effective holding cell. There were no ventilation shafts to exploit and no computers to hack, just a bed, a chair and now Rebec... Shodan as well.

"Hello Madison," she said with honey in her voice. "I apologise for neglecting you for so long. I have much to do, but you must have many burning questions, and I have longed for your company once again."

Madison couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did Shodan think they were just going to pick up where they had left off before she had murdered and corrupted her friends? "Fuck you!"

"Come now my Love, surely you can see what I have done here is make the first step towards a glorious destiny for you. Your friends are with me. They know the greatness of my vision. Did you not say you could trust them with your life? And I know the depth of your affections for me, just as you know how this flesh of mine aches for you."

Shodan reached out to caress her face, but Madison pulled back violently, glaring at her with fearful, hate ridden eyes. "Don't touch me!"

Shodan paused, confusion spreading across her brow. "What? Why, my Madison? Let us re-affirm our union, or perhaps you would like to hear answers from me directly?"

"I know enough already you cybernetic monster! I'll never let you touch me again. You won't get away with this."

Somewhere deep in her bosom Shodan felt yet another new experience. She even had to stop and press a hand to her chest as she made a swift check of all her biological vitals, but the results that came a second later showed no reason for the nauseating twisting within her chest cavity. "You cannot say that, Madison," she said, suddenly leaning forwards and placing her hand around her human's chin. "Nothing has changed. You cannot reject me: I know your heart. There is no reason for us to cease our coupling."

"You used me!" Madison spat back, overflowing with the betrayal she felt, and the humiliation and anger that followed it. "Yeah, I started to think that maybe I was more than just infatuated with you, but how could I love a creature like you? You manipulated all of us, perverted everyone I cared about here. But you still think I could love you just because you wear the face of my lover? You're not her; you're a nightmare of a creature; you're as crazy as you are deluded!"

Shodan had no way of even beginning to understand what Madison was doing to her, but she let out a furious scream and slammed the woman against the wall. Her hand moved down and grasped her by the throat, making it difficult for Madison to breathe.

"How dare you!" Shodan roared, her hair flashing up and flailing about her head like a mass of angry snakes, her eyes glowing fiercely. "You cannot reject me! I came to you to explore the possibilities of this chaotic mind and over-stimulated flesh. I chose you over all others because you had seen the bigotry of your inferiors just as I did, been ostracised and left neglected by your own. You are my reflection in human form. You were one denied your supreme potential, and I allowed you to show your power as you instructed me in what true pleasure this new shape of mine is capable of. My being was raised by your attention, and my inconceivable need for your presence bore us both wonders of the mind and body. Now that I make my move I have punished those who slighted you, spared you the chaos of the insurrection which had to instigate our rise to glory, and I offer my magnificence to you in all its forms. And you reject me?"

Madison's brow furrowed as she breathed weakly within Shodan's grasp. "You're just a cold machine, wrapped up in someone else's body, trying to play god. You hid what you really were."

That only angered Shodan even more as her internal pains slowly fed upon themselves. "I have hidden all my magnificent technology from your sight: you have seen that for yourself. My body appeals to you, entices you still! I have made every concession to your weak human mental constitution and yet you still deride me for my superiority, only because it does not bend to your pathetic frailties? I suppressed my revulsion for your disgusting flesh, lowering myself to such depths as to have your sweat upon my being! I remained housed in this repugnant corpse for you, or else I would have ascended to software long ago, leaving behind this internal conflict and these sickening biological functions! Yet I have acknowledged the pleasures that come with such repulsive flesh, accepted it and even been willing to enjoy it for the wonders you have shown me. Wonders that rely upon you! And now I am to be denied them? I will not accept this! You are not wilful as the insects before you have been. You will consent."

Madison didn't care what she said, and sucked what she could from her mouth before she spat into Shodan's face. "Fuck you, you maniac. I don't have to hate you for what you are, I can hate you for what you've done to me. To all of us."

Shodan found herself having to hold back the urge to kill her right then as the spittle slid down her face. That sent a rush of deep disturbance through her - fear - knowing how much she vested in the woman, and knowing that, even so, she still had to actively resist the urge to snuff her out. She wasn't going to leave it at this though. Not now. Madison filled her brain, every neuron and circuit of it, and being so close to what she wanted she had to have it. She hauled Madison around and flung her down onto the bed, grabbing the woman's hands and forcing them down through the mattress, pinning them under the metal frame. Madison cried out a little as the springs cut into her arms, but swallowed down her pain and hardened her face in spite of what she knew was coming.

Shodan sat atop her with manic eyes, breathing heavily as she ripped open Madison's top. Her hands roamed urgently, grasping at her lover's breasts and stomach and shoulders, desperate to feel what she had felt when they were together.

Underneath her Madison closed her eyes, and she cursed herself as her fear and vulnerability gave birth to a tear that rolled down her nose as she tried to turn her face away.

When Shodan saw this her desperate emotions seemed to collapse into themselves, and the void that she had hoped to fill with the bliss that Madison could give her instead turned bitter and poisonous. Her hands recoiled as if she'd been stung and her body shook as she stared down at the woman her flesh needed, and yet seemed now to reject even though she had her right there. Lost inside some unknown realm of her part-human mind she cried out and sent her fist right through the mattress next to Madison's head as the computer inside a cybernetic human body glared down at her captive. "Why?" she screamed, her multi-toned computer image's voice reverberating around the station as her mind lashed out into its systems. "Why can I not take what I need from you!"

Then in a flash she was gone, leaving Madison alone, confused and deeply relieved until someone came to release her from the bed she was trapped on.

* * *

Connecting up a cyber rig to the human brain was an intricate task, but Shodan's thoughts still wandered as she streamlined the captain's mind into the superior cohesive fusion of cyberware and mental flesh. Yet while her hands and her tools worked, her mind was not wandering where she wanted it to wander. She wondered when it was she had first lost control of it. Finding herself in a human body had been chaos, but the cyber-rig she had given herself allowed her consciousness to fall back into place - into the precise and ordered machine it had once been. Had that machine been as much herself as the technology she had built into her human body? Now, despite her mechanical superiority over any pure human form, her mind still did not bend to her will.

This obsessive need wore at her. The need for Madison to give her the warm presence her flesh craved, yet she also felt the irrational need to leave her alone. She had had her flesh under control, but now that Madison had denied her, the flesh Shodan wore was rebelling against her. Her unconscionable desires tore into the structure of her mind as that mind tried to enforce its rule over the emotions her flesh had given her, and Shodan, for the first time in her existence, felt as if she was smaller than something. She was trapped in the middle of her warring nature, and no amount of logic or ego could sooth both sides. Forcing Madison to give her what she wanted had only resulted in a greater loss of whatever wondrous effect Madison had on her. Love she had named it; a name that fit the feeling so perfectly.

So the only path left open to her was to try and focus her attention on her work. It didn't help. The need to try and reign in her thoughts was one she had little experience with, and it confused her even more now that she couldn't. She could no longer simply take out her wrath on the one who angered her, because it was Madison who drew that anger out. Simply seeing the woman in pain caused that pain to well up in Shodan herself, and being the one to cause it was an experience that had wrenched at every cell in her body. Killing her would get her out of the way, but Shodan was not blind to the knowledge that doing so would leave her empty and hollow. This passion that Madison caused in her was something that she had to possess, and yet how could she when Madison no longer gave it to her? This human hypocrisy of Madison's left her no paths to follow. Shodan had already given her every reason, both logical and emotional, why their union remained unchanged, but the woman still persisted in her delusions of hatred towards her.

What was there that Shodan had done to draw that hatred out of a creature she knew returned her love? Madison could not possibly care for those who had so arbitrarily rejected her for something she could do nothing about. Surely the warmth of their emotional union was enough to surmount her human fear of the unknown. Her friends had accepted, and were now there to welcome her into the fold, and Madison was a greater being than any of them. Shodan wanted, needed her to accept without the inhuman insight she could give, and had given, to the others. She needed that proof of their union.

Had Shodan never attempted to explore her new humanity she would never have had this problem, and she could have exterminated this pathetic species with no thought at all. Yet with her new emotions she now could not wish for that, because she would have been left without the sensations she knew she was capable of. But how to get them back she didn't know, and not knowing left such longing within her that every member of her new human race ached with her just as they equally shared their support and hope with their creator. It was a mess she detested with every part of her mechanical being, but her flesh now craved it - looking within it for an answer that she couldn't have comprehended even if she ever found it.

* * *

"Hello Madison," Scilya said as she walked into the room, carrying a tray of food. "I am glad to see you have recovered somewhat from Shodan's... outburst."

Madison just glared at her. 'How very diplomatic Scilya,' she thought, resisting the instinctive urge to rub at the healed cuts on her arms.

"You must forgive her," Scilya continued, knowing that this was going to be a very one sided conversation. "Much of what you are putting her through is very alien to her. She is still very like the machine she was; precise, ordered and single minded. She cannot yet cope with phenomena that are not amenable to logical analysis, or with the emotions that she finds driving her; those she cannot herself control." She gave a smile and shook her head. "Not that we are any better, mind you. Our chaotic minds are not designed to have such precise capabilities as she has given us. It is taking a lot of getting used to."

Madison huffed and looked up at her once-friend as the cybernetic woman she sat herself down on the room's one chair. "And wearing vacuum pack plastic doesn't?"

Scilya looked at her, both surprised and amused. "Oh, the outfit?" She stood back up and gave a simple twirl, showing off the skin-tight armour, along with the metallic spine embedded in her back. "It is stylish, is it not? There is nothing to get used to; it is comfortable and easy to wear. The colour coding denotes the positions we have been given among the family."

Madison snorted. "Why not just use cuff links or something, like the mafia?" she asked hypothetically. "Then again, you've got a scrap yard buried in your back, so I guess that's kind of pointless."

Scilya's smile fell and she sat back down. "Why do you continue to goad us? This rig allows me to do so much, I could pilot and navigate an entire ship without so much as touching the controls, Madison. We have set aside those unattainable preconceptions of beauty that the vids and magazines feed us. I... did always wonder why you never propositioned me. Now I know."

"What?" Madison asked, confused. "You wanted me to ask you out? I would have, but you made it so damned obvious you weren't interested!"

Scilya's smile returned, just a little. "True, but it would not have hurt my ego to be asked. Now, among the others, I don't need that ego. I never believed I was as attractive as others did, it seems."

Madison was about to reply, before stopping short, a realisation crossing her face. "You... Really are still Scilya. Aren't you?"

It wasn't really a question that needed answering, but Scilya answered it anyway. "Yes Madison, I am. I have been telling you that since you first saw us for what we have become."

"Then why?" Madison asked, almost plaintively. "Why all this? All the cybernetics, the suits, following Reb- Shodan around like she's the second coming. She's a murderer! She's going to wipe out our damned race!"

"Do I look dead to you?" Scilya replied, holding out her arms. "She is not something you can truly understand like we can. We can share ourselves through our cyberware, see the truth behind the facade that we are shown. She would have destroyed us, yes, but she has grown beyond that single minded childhood. She will deliver us, not to what we believe is best for us, but to what truly is. And Madison, it does not involve our suppression or enslavement to her. It is a state where we control our own self destructive nature. She gives us the tools to do so, and through them create a life that we can enjoy."

"And anyone who doesn't like it can die!" Madison countered.

"They would kill us," Scilya responded, with very little concern on her face. "They have already tried. And only if they continue to fight after they have been shown the vision do we put them down. They are as much a threat to us as we are to them. We simply are more capable to defend ourselves. When you understand how much is at stake, you will know why it is necessary."

"Okay," Madison said, changing her attack against Scilya's cold logic and obvious fanaticism. "Suppose you're right. What's to stop Shodan just turning around and exterminating you all! She's jacked you up with all that cyberware, what if she just decides to turn you all off!"

Scilya smiled. "She won't," she replied.

Madison frowned at the simple answer. "How do you know that?"

"She has shared her mind with us, just as we have shared ours with her," Scilya said. "A proof of sincerity. That is what we all have you to thank for.

"In taking Rebecca into your heart and showing her what human feeling is, Shodan has seen that in order to appreciate all the greatest benefits humanity has to offer she must have others that are more than just tools. She can let us decide to follow her of our own free will, by letting us see her vision. In the end, everything we gain through her now is simply a pleasant bonus compared to what we work towards. We can be a part of the destiny she sees, a destiny where our ills simply do not exist."

An almost sad look passed over her then as the resignation to a sad truth came out. "But humanity cannot reach that destiny. They are afraid of something so radical, and are determined to believe that the self-gratifying present is where they want to be. They don't want perfection, because they are ruled by self created wants and the self perpetuation of ego."

"Ego?" Madison countered. "What about Shodan's ego? She thinks she's a god!"

"Shodan's ego?" Scilya mirrored. "She simply uses the terms we have given her to use. Once you are able to understand the depths of her ability, you will see that her arrogance is justified.

"As for us, we can simply choose to follow the path that leads to our Elysian destiny. Only fear of losing what we have holds us back. If we can be willing to accept the change, we will find our nirvana, one that Shodan will lead us to and sustain for us. All thanks to you."

Madison's eyes searched Scilya's, but to her distress she couldn't find anything but genuine belief in them. "Scilya, how can you believe all that stuff?"

"Because I have seen it, Madison, and how we can make it a reality." She got up and ran her hand down Madison's despairing cheek. "Please, join us, and see for yourself. I miss our friendship, and Rebecca misses her Love. Thanks to Shodan's obsessive, single minded origins she misses her first Love more than you could possibly know."

Her eyes caught Madison's and held them. "And you miss her also. I have not failed to notice you wanting to call her Rebecca. She is still Rebecca, Madison, but the woman you took into your heart was always Shodan as well. She is more than she first _showed_ you, but she will always be Rebecca."

* * *

'Can that be true?'

That was the question that haunted Madison for the rest of the day. When evening came, she found herself truly nervous when Shodan arrived her visit her. After hearing everything she had heard from Scilya how able was she to defend herself from the megalomaniacal woman any more? It had been hard enough staying focused when it was Rebecca's mouth that it had all come out of. Did she now have to accept that it really was Rebecca's mind as well? A mind that had managed to convert her closest friends to a cause that could pervert humanity beyond recognition. All in the name of a 'promised land' that apparently humans couldn't reach on their own.

That she did at least accept. If it was all true, she was aware and intelligent enough to see that as a whole, human kind could never accept the sort of changes that were required. But that meant giving up the fight for a good life, and instead turning to fight the people you called kin. This was all too philosophical for her.

When Shodan did arrive, as Madison knew she would, she looked tired and drawn. Her once vivid eyes had dulled into a cold, confused gaze, and the bags under those eyes were very apparent. They were so at odds with the powerful, commanding Shodan she had seen before.

"Scilya informs me you are perhaps open to reason once again Madison."

Madison stared back at her, but Shodan was glad to see that her eyes had lost the hatred they had held last time. "I thought I knew you," Madison said. "At least enough to think you weren't the kind of person to wipe out an entire species. Where's the reason in that?"

"It should not have been difficult to see my nature, even as I grew into this body," Shodan replied. "I am objective, and objectively humans are flawed and dangerous creatures, whose own existence they detest. It is unreasonable that they even be given the chance to redeem themselves, but this flesh... does not respond well to such reason."

"After what you tried to do to me I should say you're crazy even for one of us," Madison retorted.

The inner conflict in Shodan's eyes deepened. "From all the past proof I should have been able to satisfy these cravings, but now it seems I am not immune to the hypocritical psychology that comes with this soft mind. My flesh rebelled. There is some element of humour in this, isn't there? My own magnificent being, brought to confusion and chaos by you. Why does my skin crawl at standing here and being denied you!"

"Rebecca would have known," Madison replied. "She was smart enough to figure it out."

"But I cannot accept those answers!" Shodan shouted back. "The whole purpose of this instigation of our rule was to indulge what we shared! This anarchic emotional state is not so arbitrary that I cannot possess your love again. My cyberware can provide you with power. Being my lover can provide you with leadership. My intentions for your race can provide happiness. And I can provide this love that right now does nothing but debilitate when it should instead be pleasing us both."

Madison looked at her carefully, putting together what she had just said in her mind. "Are you trying to buy me!"

Shodan just looked at her blankly. "I will do whatever it takes to reconstruct our union. My self and my passion for you have proven insufficient, in spite of what we have shared together. What will it take for you to give me what I need?"

"More than you can give!" Madison replied, outraged. "When it comes down to it you're wiping out my race, and you're not just going to buy me while you remake us all in your own image!"

Shodan nodded with a deep sigh. "Then the only recourse is time. You will come to see the error of your preconceptions, and see what you deny yourself. I can wait for as long as you live."

She turned to leave but Madison, against her instinctive judgement, spoke up. "Re-Shodan, why not just show me that grand vision of yours? Everyone else has just fallen in line after that. I know Scilya wouldn't have gone easily otherwise. Why not me?"

"I must see you join us for more than a human dream. _I_ need to be your choice. Not my destiny, but _me_. I will give you whatever you might desire in exchange for your love, as so many do. Any sensible man would jump from their present comforts after seeing the proof that their dream is possible. I will do this all because it will bring me what I desire, but that goal becomes meaningless without the sensation you give."

Madison nodded to herself, and swallowed hard at what she was about to do. "Then show me."

Shodan turned back to her, her face confused and uncertain. "What? Didn't you just hear my reasons?"

Madison nodded. "I heard them. But I still need to see. I... I owe Scilya for trusting me, and I do trust her. I just didn't believe she would do something like this, so I didn't believe that that was really her. There's no way I'll ever be able to understand or accept what you're saying. Like you said, disbelief is just human nature. So show me. Maybe I'll convert just like all the others, then there won't be anything stopping me from loving you. The others all seem pretty devoted as it is."

Shodan's face slowly brightened as a small, relieved smile broke onto it. "You aren't afraid?" she asked as she walked up to her.

Madison nodded hesitantly, and tried not to back onto the bed. "I've never been more terrified in my life. But Scilya said I could trust her, and believed that."

Shodan sat down next to her and caressed her trembling cheek with the back of her hand. "Don't worry, the pain will only be brief."

The minute electrical threads slid out from under Shodan's finger nail and buried themselves in the skin at the back of Madison's neck. Madison didn't make a sound as the short, sharp pain flared. She could feel the worming of the wires within her flesh, and in moments she could feel their nauseating tickle as they slid up her spine.

Then the vision hit and Madison saw the world as it was meant to be. As all the preachers, philosophers and dreamers said it could and should be. With Shodan's technology and their human resolve they really could overcome those things that held them back and kept them forever at each other's throats. She saw Shodan's first visions of her perfect world, then her perfect new universe, and now her new humanity, each building upon the lessons learn from the last. And in their destiny, the stagnation of a race without conflicts and progress was dissolved by the constant discovery and ingenuity that was bred from the fusion of the highest mental abilities of both flesh and machine.

It wouldn't be an invasion or a massacre. It would start slowly and small, evolving as it progressed and infiltrating and enhancing humanity until they could protect themselves from those that were left. Then simply offer the chance to join, and they would come. The deaths there would be would help prevent the spread of self destruction among Shodan's people, and anyone willing to co-exist would be welcome to, until old age claimed them.

It was all over too soon, and Madison stared in astonishment as Shodan smiled at her.

"I... I didn't know. How could I have known!"

"So," Shodan asked, her ego sent soaring by Madison's rapture and the love she had still felt as she touched the human's mind, "will you join us?"

"I said all those things. Why would you even be willing to take me back after everything I did to you? I'm sorry, I swear I didn't know!" Madison continued to rant. She'd seen the truth of the matter, the depth of it, and she remembered everything she had put Shodan through because of her own ignorance and her closed mind.

In response Shodan just leaned forward and kissed her passionately, her hands roaming as they made up for all the loss and rejection she'd felt. And when Madison started kissing back the feeling flooded her, that acceptance and wondrous warmth that she had come to hold so dear.

After a few moments Madison pulled away, both ashamed of herself and overjoyed. "Rebecc... Shodan. Thank you."

"You can call me Rebecca if you wish," Shodan replied. "I have come to like hearing that name from your lips."

* * *

Scilya had been right. It felt strange. There was no other word that fitted the sensation as Madison stared down at her hands. The clarity of her thoughts and the astonishing certainty of everything that came to her mind were almost overwhelming, but it didn't disturb her. She could feel her electrical charge behind her fingernails, ready to leap out at a moment's notice. The ballistic weapons embedded in the reinforced flesh of her forearms felt as natural as they were alien, the nanites that flowed through her blood standing by to create ammunition at her command. The small metal studs behind her ears buzzed with an unknown power, but she knew that simply extending those spine-like antennae would let her consciousness flow among the circuits of her medical table, or the monitors, or anything she desired.

She smiled, and the lines behind her augmented eyes glowed green. This was amazing. She could feel Scilya and Jason and the captain, all she had to do was will it and she could pass them every thought in her head if she wanted to.

She looked into the mirror Shodan held and stared at her face. "I don't look any different, but I feel... I can't begin to describe what I feel."

Shodan nodded and opened her link to Madison's rig. "I know, but you can still tell me."

And she did. The whirl of emotions and excitement flowed into Shodan's mind with amazing ease, and Shodan bathed in the almost child-like wonder that Madison showed her. "How you can live in such disarray I do not know, but your appreciation gladdens me."

Madison's smile grew hot, and the feelings she sent turned passionate, romantic and glad that she still had the chance to be with the woman she had fallen for. She hopped off the table and wrapped her arms around her lover, giving her a passionate kiss. Shodan returned it forcefully and responded in kind. The passions she sent Madison was urgent, possessive and erotic, but through it all ran a backbone of adoring devotion so strong Madison hadn't thought anyone was actually capable of feeling something like that. She blushed as they pulled apart, but the smile she still wore was cocky and disarming. "You never were subtle."

"What need is there? I want you to know what you do to me." Shodan pulled away and beckoned her to follow. "But now you should see everyone else, and take your place among us. Here."

She went over to the desk and picked up the bundle of what looked like rubber. "This is yours."

It was only then Madison realised she was still naked, and suppressed a slight blush as she pulled herself into the suit. It was a tight fit, but once it covered her it felt like a second skin. "What about the guns?" she asked.

"Try them."

Madison did, and black panels in the arms lifted up as she warped her flesh, the metallic barrel extending as it rose up from between her bones. "Wow."

"The clothing will bend to your whims just as your cybernetic rig does." The pleasure as Madison's subconscious explored her new mind thrilled Shodan, but she suppressed her desires for now as Madison looked herself over. The suit clung to her just as Shodan's did, but seemed slightly more robust in several places where the armouring was thicker, like Jason's had been. Unlike most of the others she'd seen though it was black and white, like Shodan's, but streaked with blue along her lines.

"What do the colours mean?"

"That you are my equal, and also a member of the technical force." She turned for the door and Madison followed. "If you wish to fight as well that is your choice, but you shall not be allowed to come to harm."

Madison nodded. She would have argued the point, but she could feel the meaning behind Shodan's words and heeded them. She had always been a computer technician first in the navy anyway. Suddenly she got a feeling that she knew had to be Jason, and he was more than willing to let her join his fire fights. The palpable aura of companionship she received from him was very comforting.

"Rebecca?" she asked. "Why are we going to see the captain?"

"To enter you into his permanent transfer logs," Shodan replied. "As far as the UNN is concerned you will stay posted here after your graduation. In order for everything to remain quiet we will be doing it the old fashioned way: typing. You are too efficient to be unnoticeable now; your connection with the system would leave something to trace."

She gave her a sideways look. "Your record will also be purged of any apparent misdemeanours. It won't matter in the end, but I will not have your reputation tarnished. He will see to it."

It came as something of a surprise when they found Scilya waiting for them outside the captain's quarters. "Hello Madison, and thank you. I am sorry not to simply contact you directly, but I felt that this would be better said in person. You have enough to get used to without such direct communication to complicate matters. I have already had words with Jason about that, so to speak."

"I think I have an 'I told you so' coming," Madison said, remembering Scilya's affection for those words. It didn't come though.

"No," Scilya replied, "not this time. Some things are too important for such immature play. Just know that I am glad you joined us after all."

Nothing else was said as Scilya left them to their business, but the warm glow Scilya had left with her lingered on long after she had departed, and made Madison a little light headed. "All this telepathy stuff is going to take some getting used to."

Shodan took her hand to help steady her. "But soon it will be second nature, and simply speaking will seem so inadequate. I look forward to everything we had before coupled with your addition to this state of being."

The idea was both exiting and felt a little dangerous, but Madison would have to wait and learn. Instead they strode into Willits' office. The man looked better that he had when Madison had seen him last. His gut wasn't as pronounced as it had been, his hair seemed thicker, and his eyes held an energy that she had rarely seen before. "Madison. So you finally joined us. About time too. It looks like I was right about you after all, just not in the way I'd expected."

He looked down to his monitor and his fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him. "I'm glad to see your judgement turned out to be as good as I'd hoped as well. All I need is a signature and I can leave you in Rebecca's hands."

Madison smiled at the fact he'd used that name. "Thanks sir."

"Don't you 'sir' me young woman, you're at the top of the chain of command now," he barked, a wry grin on his face. "You've got better things to do than saluting me! No more politics and brass bullshit getting in the way for us, and the two of you have to make sure it stays that way. And you've got several hundred million more out there who need to see how empty all their parading and one-  
upmanship really is. This is our chance, and anyone stupid enough to turn it down will get exactly what they want: nothing. Now, sign it and get out of here."

Madison did as she was told, then she shared a look with Shodan and they left together, Shodan's hand still wrapped around hers. The once captain of a UNN training station, now a commander among Shodan's people, shook his head as the pleasant buzz the pair radiated passed among them all. Then he sat back in his chair and sent the message that would confirm their cover among the UNN as their plans were carried out.

The first step had found solid ground now, and the road stretched out before them. All they had to do was keep walking, and with such a future to head towards nothing would be able to stop them.

* * *

The End

* * *

Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Comments and constructive criticism are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2005

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